Poker game

ABSTRACT

A shared-card poker game provides each player with two faced-down personal cards and one-faced up personal card. Rounds of betting are conducted, and shared community cards are dealt faced-up in front of the players. To determine the winner of a hand, each player creates the best 5-card poker hand using three of the available community cards and two of his personal cards. Then the 5-card hands are compared, and the 5-card hand of highest rank is declared the winner.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The field of the invention relates to a game of poker played with a deckof playing cards.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Poker has surged in popularity in recent years, and particularly theform of poker called Texas Hold'em. Other, less popular forms of thegame have also seen a rise in popularity. Such games include Stud, StudHi/Lo, Omaha Hold'em, and Omaha Hi/Lo.

Texas Hold'em

In Texas Hold'em (usually called simply “Hold'em”), the player to theimmediate left of the player designated as the dealer places a forcedbet known as the “small blind,” and the player to the immediate left ofthe small blind places a forced bet known as the “big blind.” The bigblind is larger than the small blind and is typically twice the sizethereof. These blinds are posted by the designated players as asubstitute for antes by all players and are used to initiate the bettingaction.

Referring to FIG. 1, the game play of Hold'em is as follows:

-   1. Each player is dealt two cards faced down, called their “hole    cards.”-   2. A round of betting ensues, beginning with the player immediately    to the left of the big blind, who is said to be “under the gun.”-   3. Three community cards, called “the flop,” are placed face up in    front of the players.-   4. Another round of betting ensues beginning with the player to the    immediate left of the dealer.-   5. A fourth community card, called “the turn” or “fourth street,” is    placed face up.-   6. Another round of betting ensues just as after the flop.-   7. A fifth community card, called “the river” or “fifth street,” is    placed faced up.-   8. The last round of betting ensues just as after the flop.

After the last round of betting, those players still in the hand (i.e.those players who have not folded) compare their holdings in what iscalled “the showdown.” The players utilize any 5-card combination of thecommunity cards and their two hole cards to create their best possiblepoker hand. The best hand wins all of the previously placed bets, whichhave been placed together on the table in a pile known as “the pot.” Inthe case of a tie, the pot is split amongst those players tying for thebest hand.

There are various betting structures, the most common of which is “NoLimit,” which allows a player to bet any arbitrary amount above andincluding a minimum amount (usually the big blind) up to the amount ofthe player's stake at the table. Other forms of Hold'em include “PotLimit,” where the maximum bet is the size of the pot, and “Limit” or“Fixed Limit” where there is a rigid betting structure and the size ofthe bets are predetermined.

Stud and Stud Hi/Lo

In Stud, each player first antes a small amount into the pot.

Referring to FIG. 2, the game play of Stud is as follows:

-   1. Each player is dealt three cards—two faced down, and one faced    up.-   2. The player having the smallest card face up is then forced to    commence the action by placing either a “bring-in” bet or a standard    bet, wherein the standard bet is larger than the bring-in bet. A    round of betting then ensues as the other players decide to call,    fold, or raise.-   3. Each player then receives another card face up, sometimes called    “fourth street.”-   4. A round of betting then commences with the player having the    highest-ranking faced-up cards.-   5. Each player then receives another card face up, sometimes called    “fifth street.”-   6. A round of betting then commences with the player having the    highest-ranking faced-up cards.-   7. Each player then receives another card face up, sometimes called    “sixth street.”-   8. A round of betting then commences with the player having the    highest-ranking faced-up cards.-   9. Each player receives a seventh card faced down, known as “the    river” or “seventh street.”-   10. Another round of betting ensues as previously, and the players    remaining in the hand show-down their hands to determine the winner.

In conventional Stud, the player with the highest 5-card poker hand outof his seven cards wins the pot. In the case of a tie, the players tyingfor the highest hand split the pot.

In Stud Hi/Lo, the pot is split between the player(s) having the highesthand and the player(s) having the lowest hand. A player may utilizedifferent 5-card combinations for each of his high and low hands.However, there are usually conditions as to what qualifies as a lowhand. Typically, a player must have five different cards of rank 8 orlower (with Aces considered to be low) to have a qualifying low hand.Also, with low hands, straights and flushes are usually disregarded. Ifthere is no qualifying low hand, then the player with the highest handwins the entire pot.

Unlike Hold'em, both forms of Stud are almost exclusively played with afixed betting structure.

Omaha Hold'em and Omaha Hi/Lo

Omaha Hold'em (usually called simply “Omaha”) is played in exactly thesame manner as Hold'em except for two important differences: (1) inOmaha, each player is dealt four cards face down, rather than only twoas in Hold'em; and (2) in Omaha, each player must use exactly two of hishole cards and three of the community cards to make his poker hand. Thisprocess is illustrated in FIG. 3.

While Omaha is less popular than Hold'em, it is a preferred game amongstmany players because it is a “high action” game, and the pots aregenerally much larger on average than Hold'em pots. Omaha is generallyplayed with a pot-limit betting structure; however, it may sometimes beplayed with a fixed betting structure.

Omaha Hi/Lo is a form of Omaha that is akin to Stud Hi/Lo in that thepot is split amongst the highest and the lowest hands, where the “8 orbetter” is the typical constraint for a qualifying low hand. A playermay utilize different hole and community cards to make each of his highand low hands, however, he may only use exactly two of his hole cardsand three of the community cards to make each hand. Omaha Hi/Lo isgenerally played with either a fixed limit or pot limit bettingstructure, although it is sometimes played with a no limit structure.

Super Hold'em

Super Hold'em, shown in FIG. 4, is another form of poker similar toHold'em, albeit seldom-played. It is identical to Hold'em, except thateach player receives three cards face down instead of two. The game playis identical to Hold'em, but provides players with much stronger handson average due to the extra card.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,651,983

U.S. Pat. No. 6,651,983, which is herein incorporated by reference,discloses another form of poker that is identical to Hold'em, exceptthat instead of a river community card, each player receives a concealedriver card. This would seem to allow a player to hold a more deceptivehand since more cards are concealed and would also create moreuncertainty after the river because the players would not realisticallyknow exactly what the best possible hand is. For example, any two suitedcommunity cards that have 3 gaps or less would create the possibility ofa player holding a straight flush. In addition, any player after theriver could be holding four-of-a-kind. In this form of poker, as well asSuper Hold'em, it is very hard to know “where you're at” on the riversince each player has three concealed cards, all of which may beutilized in the making of a 5-card poker hand.

Hold'em, Stud, Stud Hi/Lo, Omaha, and Omaha Hi/Lo are by far the mostpopular poker games today. Each form of poker exhibits unique nuancesand characteristics that lend it to certain strategies. Their rulesfoster certain styles of play and attract those types of players. Forexample, Omaha and Omaha Hi/Lo are “high action” games that usually havelarge pots and very large bets “on the come” (i.e. hands that are notmade but would be helped by a large number of cards to come). Stud andespecially Texas Hold'em place a high importance on the strength ofstarting hands and lend them to a patient but aggressive style of play.However, No Limit Texas Hold'em allows a player to bluff more easilythan Stud or Fixed Limit Hold'em because the player can place a verylarge bet in order to “scare” other players out of the hand. Hold'em isalso driven by mathematical odds, because it is relatively easy forplayer to calculate the odds of successfully drawing out on anotherplayer or of having another player successfully draw out on him. InOmaha and Stud, it is much more difficult to ascertain the mathematicalodds in any given situation, and therefore, these games do not rely onpure math as much.

A major disadvantage of Hold'em and both forms of Omaha is that a playerreceives no additional concrete information of an opponent's hand.Unlike Stud, where several of an opponent's personal cards are exposed,all of an opponent's personal cards are concealed. The community cardsand a player's personal cards provide negative information—that is,information as to what cards an opponent does not hold. Of a possiblefifty-two cards, a player only receives definite information of up toseven or nine of such cards (i.e. the two or four personal cards plus upto five community cards). This lack of information makes Hold'em andOmaha very difficult forms of poker and places a heavy emphasis on aplayer's ability to “read” his opponents.

In Stud, up to four of every player's cards are exposed, so a player isgiven ample information as to the strength of opponents' hands. However,in the case of multiway pots, it may be difficult for one to keep trackof all of the exposed cards. A player with acute memory skills who cankeep track of what cards he has seen has an advantage in Stud. To many,keeping track of a dozen or more cards may be information overload and adifficult task. Despite this advantage of receiving more information onopponents' hands, Stud is generally disfavored because it cannot befeasibly played with a no-limit or pot-limit structure. With a fixedlimit, or even spread limit structure, coupled with many exposed cards,it is difficult to bluff in Stud very often. It is near impossible to“buy” a pot on the river on a pure bluff like one can in no limit or potlimit games.

Omaha and Omaha Hi/Lo suffer from the drawback that the winning handsare usually the best (or very near) possible hands. Especially inmultiway pots, it is extremely common for at least one player to havethe “nuts,” or the best possible hand given the 5 community cards. Inthe case of Hi/Lo, the best possible low hand, if possible, is almostalways held by at least one player when there is a showdown. Therefore,to win a showdown, a player usually has to make a very strong hand.However, the pot limit and no limit forms of these games provide manybluffing opportunities and do allow a player to “buy” a pot withouthaving the best hand. In sum, each game fosters different styles andstrategies that make the games unique in their own right.

All of the existing forms of shared-card poker are described atwww.pokernews.com/poker-variants/shared-card-poker.html, which is hereinincorporated by reference. As can be seen, all of the conventional formsof shared-card poker deal cards faced-down to each player. Then, eachplayer creates a poker hand using his faced-down cards and a number ofshared community cards. However, none of the prior art forms ofshared-card poker deal both faced-down and faced-up cards to eachplayer. As such, a player does not receive any concrete information asto his opponents' cards. The present invention differs from such priorart forms of poker in that each player receives at least one faced-upcard in addition to a plurality of faced-down cards in order to provideplayers with concrete information regarding opponents' cards. Thisvariation of the conventional methods of playing poker produces a pokergame that is unique and has an interesting game play.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates the conventional form of poker known as TexasHold'em.

FIG. 2 illustrates the conventional form of poker known as Stud.

FIG. 3 illustrates the conventional form of poker known as Omaha.

FIG. 4 illustrates the conventional form of poker known as SuperHold'em.

FIG. 5 illustrates the game of poker according to the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFFERED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 5 illustrates the flow of the game according to the presentinvention. In the first embodiment, the small and big blinds are postedby consecutive players to the left of the dealer, just as in Hold'em.

-   1. Each player is initially dealt three cards—two faced down and one    faced up—just as in Stud.-   2. A round of betting ensues. The betting is carried out in the same    manner as in Hold'em or Omaha, with the player under the gun    commencing the betting. The under-the-gun player and each subsequent    player have the option of folding, calling the current bet, or    raising the current bet. If the big blind's bet is only called, and    no player raises the big blind, then the big-blind player has the    option of either checking and proceeding to the flop or raising,    just as in Hold'em.-   3. A flop of three community cards is dealt.-   4. A round of betting ensues, just as in Hold'em or Omaha, beginning    with the player to the immediate left of the dealer (or to the left    of the player designated as the dealer).-   5. The turn is dealt faced up alongside the flop-   6. A round of betting ensues, just as after the flop.-   7. The river is dealt faced up.-   8. A round of betting ensues, just as after the flop.

Then the players remaining in the hand show down their hands. Pursuantto Omaha, each player must utilize exactly two of his personal cards andthree of the community cards in making his poker hand. The winner is theplayer whose poker hand ranks the highest, and the pot is split in thecase of a tie.

As can be seen, the form of poker according to the present inventioncombines advantageous features of the various prior art forms of pokerin a unique way. The starting hands are dealt in the same manner as inStud. Then, the game play proceeds in the same manner as Hold'em, andthe showdown is reminiscent of Omaha, wherein a player utilizes exactlytwo of his hole cards and three of the community cards to make his5-card poker hand.

This form of poker provides each player with the benefit of receivingextra information about his opponents' hands but does not provide the“information overload” problems that Stud may produce. In addition, itis still possible to ascertain the mathematical odds of a given play,although not as easily as in Hold'em or as difficult as in Omaha orStud.

The best starting hands for this invention are similar to the strongstarting hands of Stud. However, whereas rolled-up trips (i.e.three-of-a-kind) is a very powerful starting hand in Stud, it is muchweaker in the instant form of poker because the player may utilize onlytwo of his three personal cards to make his 5-card poker hand.

The instant form of poker also provides numerous other advantages overthe conventional forms of poker. The relative strength of made handswill be higher than those in Hold'em due to the extra personal card,however, they will not be so high as those in Omaha where players aredealt four personal cards. Thus, the present invention contemplates a“happy medium” between Hold'em and Omaha, while providing the extrabenefit derived from Stud of having extra initial information regardingan opponent's holding. Numerous other advantages will also be apparentto those skilled in the art.

The second embodiment differs from the first embodiment in that, ratherthan having a small and big blind commence the action as in Hold'em,each player is forced to ante-up as in Stud. After the antes are placedinto the pot, each player is dealt three cards—two faced down and onefaced up—just as in the first embodiment. Then, the player with thesmallest faced-up card is required to either bring-in or bet. Bettingfor the round then continues just as in Stud. However, the bettingstructure may also be pot limit or no-limit with the bring-in betequaling the size of the minimum bet.

After the flop the player with the highest (or, alternatively, thelowest) face-up card commences the betting. The same player commencesthe betting for each round of betting after the turn and river. Afterthe last round of betting, the players remaining show down in the samemanner as the first embodiment.

Thus, the player with the highest up card has his advantage offset byhaving to commence each round of betting after the flop, turn, andriver. This application of the Stud first-to-bet principle to aHold'em-type game with community cards makes for a very interesting andunique game play

Both embodiments may also be played “Hi/Lo” style as described above,wherein the pot is split amongst the high and low hands. As describedpreviously, there may be conditions as to what qualifies as a low hand,such as the common “8 or better” constraint. The preferred method ofplaying this game is with a pot limit betting structure, however, it mayalso be played with a fixed-limit, no-limit, or spread-limit bettingstructure without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Various other modifications and additions to the first and secondembodiments may be made without departing from the spirit of theinvention. For example, wild cards may be designated, or joker card(s)may be added to the deck as wild cards. The game may be played “live”with actual cards, or it may be played on an electronic system. It maybe played among a plurality of players stationed at individual computersthat are connected via electronic communication lines such as theInternet, a LAN, or the like. The present invention may also be adaptedto be played by a single player at an electronic machine, or a “videopoker” machine. Or, as in the game of Crazy Pineapple, each player maybe forced to discard a personal card before the flop.

In addition, the “Omaha” constraint may be removed, and a player maycreate his 5-card poker hand from any of his three personal cards andthe five community cards, or alternatively, a player may be forced toutilize only one or two of his personal cards (but not all three) inmaking his 5-card poker hand. Also, a player may receive a differentnumber of faced-up and faced-down cards so long as he receives acombination thereof. Also, the invention may be played “low” stylewherein the lowest hand, rather then the highest hand wins—e.g.Ace-to-five or deuce-to-seven style. Other obvious modifications will bereadily apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from thespirit and scope of the present invention.

1. A game of poker, comprising: a first player; a second player; acollection of bets and/or antes; a first set of playing cards dealt tothe first player, wherein at least one playing card of the first set ofplaying cards is dealt faced down and at least one playing card of thefirst set of playing cards is dealt faced up; a second set of playingcards dealt to the second player, wherein at least one playing card ofthe second set of playing cards is dealt faced down and at least oneplaying card of the second set of playing cards is dealt faced up; aplurality of community playing cards placed face up; and a comparison ofa first five-card poker hand, corresponding to the first player, to asecond five-card poker hand, corresponding to the second player, whereinthe first poker hand is a combination of playing cards contained in thefirst set of playing cards and playing cards contained in the pluralityof community playing cards, and wherein the second poker hand is acombination of playing cards contained in the second set of playingcards and playing cards contained in the plurality of community playingcards.
 2. A game of poker according to claim 1, wherein the first pokerhand consists of two playing cards from the first set of playing cardsand three playing cards from the plurality of community playing cards.3. A game of poker according to claim 1, wherein the first and secondset of playing cards each consist of two playing cards faced down andone playing card faced up.
 4. A game of poker according to claim 1,wherein the plurality of community playing cards consists of fiveplaying cards.
 5. A game of poker according to claim 1, wherein thecollection of bets and/or antes is collected via a plurality of roundsof betting in accordance with a predetermined betting structure.
 6. Agame of poker according to claim 5, wherein the betting structure is potlimit.
 7. A game of poker according to claim 5, wherein the bettingstructure is no limit.
 8. A game of poker according to claim 5, whereinthe betting structure is fixed limit.
 9. A game of poker according toclaim 1, further comprising a determination of whether the first pokerhand is higher ranking than the second poker hand.
 10. A game of pokeraccording to claim 9, wherein the determination of whether the firstpoker hand is better than the second poker hand further comprises: inthe case that the first poker hand is higher ranking than the secondpoker hand, an awarding of the collection of bets and/or antes to thefirst player; in the case that the first poker hand is lower rankingthan the second poker hand, an awarding of the collection of bets and/orantes to the second player; and in the case that the first poker hand isequal to the second poker hand, an awarding of substantially equalportions of the collection of bets and/or antes to the first and secondplayers.
 11. A method of playing a game of poker, comprising the stepsof dealing a first set of playing cards to a first player, wherein atleast one playing card of the first set of playing cards is dealt faceddown and at least one playing card of the first set of playing cards isdealt faced up; dealing a second set of playing cards to a secondplayer, wherein at least one playing card of the second set of playingcards is dealt faced down and at least one playing card of the secondset of playing cards is dealt faced up; collecting bets and/or antes;dealing a plurality of community playing cards placed face up; andcomparing a first five-card poker hand, corresponding to the firstplayer, to a second five-card poker hand, corresponding to the secondplayer, wherein the first poker hand is a combination of playing cardscontained in the first set of playing cards and playing cards containedin the plurality of community playing cards, and wherein the secondpoker hand is a combination of playing cards contained in the second setof playing cards and playing cards contained in the plurality ofcommunity playing cards.
 12. A method of playing a game of pokeraccording to claim 11, wherein the first poker hand consists of twoplaying cards from the first set of playing cards and three playingcards from the plurality of community playing cards.
 13. A method ofplaying a game of poker according to claim 11, wherein the first andsecond set of playing cards each consist of two playing cards faced downand one playing card faced up.
 14. A method of playing a game of pokeraccording to claim 11, wherein the plurality of community playing cardsconsists of five playing cards.
 15. A method of playing a game of pokeraccording to claim 11, wherein the collecting of bets and/or antescomprises: conducting a plurality of rounds of betting in accordancewith a predetermined betting structure.
 16. A method of playing a gameof poker according to claim 15, wherein the betting structure is potlimit.
 17. A method of playing a game of poker according to claim 15,wherein the betting structure is no limit.
 18. A method of playing agame of poker according to claim 15, wherein the betting structure isfixed limit.
 19. A method of playing a game of poker according to claim1, further comprising the step of: determining whether the first pokerhand is higher ranking than the second poker hand.
 20. A method ofplaying a game of poker according to claim 19, wherein the determiningstep further comprises: in the case that the first poker hand is higherranking than the second poker hand, awarding the collection of betsand/or antes to the first player; in the case that the first poker handis lower ranking than the second poker hand, awarding the collection ofbets and/or antes to the second player; and in the case that the firstpoker hand is equal to the second poker hand, awarding substantiallyequal portions of the collection of bets and/or antes to the first andsecond players.